Five reasons to book a Padua hotel
Padua - here we look at some of the lesser known gems. Padua is a very ancient city of course, legend having it as being founded by the Trojans 1100 years before Christ. This may be somewhat fanciful, certainly Padua’s great days were during the early Middle Ages and onward – and this is where our final five ‘must sees’ originate:
* Santa Sofia is the oldest surviving church in this very ancient city, with the crypt begun in the late tenth century by Venetian stonemasons. A basilica with Byzatine and Gothic elements.
* The University was founded in 1222 and it has the oldest botanic garden in the world. Started in 1545, the Orto Botanico di Padova was started as a repository of medicinal herbs and still has important rare plants. Make sure you make a good itinerary and plan before you set out from your Padua hotel … you’ll save on frustration and shoe leather.
* Palazzo della Ragione: with reputedly the largest roof unsupported by columns in Europe, the palazzo was begun in 1172 and completed in 1219. Again, the frescoes are the thing – an entire ceiling by Fra Giovanni completed in 1306, the great ‘Salone’ frescoed by Stefano da Ferrara and Nicolo Miretto between 1425 and 1440. Beneath, there is a market dating back centuries.
* The city walls: once 11km in circumference, now largely ruined. See too the Castello and other medieval buildings along the walls. Used as prisons during the 19th and 20th centuries, these are now being restored. You can look for a Padua hotel close to the old city walls.
* Padua’s villas: this was the hometown of the great Palladio, who reinvented European architecture in the Renaissance, bringing Classical elements to Italy and presaging modern architecture. The Villa Contarini at Piazzola sul Brenta is one of his finest, builit in 1546. See too the Villas Molin, Mandiriola, Pacchierotti-Trieste, Pacchierotti-Trieste, Selvatico da Porto and Villa Loredan. It’s worth considering a Padua hotel in the countryside or the Brenta Riviera as well as the city itself.
Our range of hotels in Padua
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